Key Analysis on All Poems Flashcards
Aunt Julia Main Themes
Lack of communication – loss of tradition. Gaelic spoken in Highlands and Islands but fell out of favour. As a child the poet could not understand, as an adult he regrets that he could not understand. He has tried to learn, but too late.
“By the time I had learned a little, she lay silenced”
2. Survival – living in harsh conditions/ no modern facilities “— I can see her strong foot,
stained with peat,” – Highland folk when strong, capable and independent. Poor – no shoes. No vanity – wore men’s shoes
3. Traditions – creativity of the people / loss of tradition due to industrialisation
Rhythm in Aunt Julia
“paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel” – unusually long line. Rhythm of the line imitates the rhythm of working at a spinning wheel and operating the foot peddle or treadle. He is recreating his memory through his words and string up the traditional image as a work of art in his poem. (Visiting Hour and Memorial recreate) People rarely work on spinning wheels. Something that belongs in the past, traditional crafts and lost with modern industry.
How effective do you find the final stanza as a conclusion to the poem? ( AUNT JULIA)
Your answer should deal with the poet’s ideas and language.
Ideas –language repetition of opening lines takes you back to the beginning. He was drawn into her world and regrets his lack of understanding, limited by his inability to speak the traditional Highland Gaelic. Wishes he had understood more about her and her traditional lifestyle. She was a powerful presence in his childhood.
“By the time I had learned a little, she lay
Silenced in the absolute black” – alliteration draws attention to her lying in the ground, enjambment makes us linger on “lay” the final word of the line. We also focus on the “silenced” beginning the next line emphasising the silence of death, the absence he feels now she has died and perhaps contrasting with the “very loud” of her spoken Gaelic and the powerful sense of her presence.
Seagull’s voice – harsh, incomprehensible and loud – like Aunt Julia – effective metaphor.
“across a hundred yards
of peatscrapes and lazybeds
and getting angry, getting angry” – distance between them emphasised by language and loss of tradition. (Common idea to distance between living and dying in Visiting Hour and Memorial)
Angry repeated – character’s anger for missing and opportunity. In youth he did not respect these Highland traditions in the same way, too young to recognise the importance. Now he is perhaps storing and recording his memories of these traditions to pass on to future generations.
With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem
are similar OR different to another poem or poems by MacCaig which you have
read. AUNT JULIA
Finality of death, loss of relationships – common with several MacCaig poems Traditions and loss of traditions – Basking Shark
Inability to communicate – Visiting Hour
Techniques connect all poems
Nature imagery – connect all poems
Unanswered questions – is this common to all his poems?
Memorial Conclusion to poem
Walking masterpiece – he has immortalised her in death so her memory will remain
Elegy – song or poem that lament (mourns /cries), praises and comes to term with death of someone
Grief in Memorial
“carousel of language” – metaphor -constant reminders of death going round and round in his head. Reminder of how we may refer to death lightly but when it is close to us we notice
“It’s a web” – metaphor that her death is threaded through everything.
Mood created in Memorial
The mood is lamenting her death / sadness– “Everywhere she dies” – surrounded by constant reminders
“No sunrise, no city square” beautiful images, traditionally poetic remind him of death.
Sounds in Sounds of the Day
Clatter came - alliteration - imitates sound of horses hooves evocative of country side – loud sound – disturbance – warning of a dramatic incident?
Negative connotations – warning cry to scare off intruders – sense of foreboding
Block is a harsh sound also repeated with creates sense of foreboding for later in the poem
Rolled – rolling of the “r” sounds like roar of a water fall – danger of water, stepping close to the edge
Nature in Sounds of the Day
Air creaked – call of lapwing –tiny sound that you would only notice in peaceful place. Countryside
Snuffling puff – repetition of uff (assonance) draws attention to sound. Sounds like a tiny creature – only a sound you would notice if you were still and quiet.
References to horses, fords, seaside, waterfalls, marsh land and peaceful place where you can hear birdsong, water, movement
Change in Atmosphere in Sounds of the day
”the end of all the sounds” – silence contrasts with the noise outside - contrast from outside to inside “You left me” – line on its own – isolation Change from third person to first person,
“Plunge your hand” – move from listening to feeling – then the image of icy water describes a loss of feeling –numbness.
Wry Humour
“had the advantage of not being dead yet.” – use of irony to show the only thing going for the beggar is that he is alive. (Litotes – understatement for comic effect?)
synecdoche – separating himself from his nostrils “as they go bobbing along” almost humorous image to make himself feel better. Coping mechanism.
“room sized monster with matchbox brain”
“roomsized monster” reinforces the sense of scale of the creature but this is contrasted with the tiny image of a matchbox sized brain. Here there is an element of fear, that this huge creature could damage him, perhaps even unwittingly rather than a planned attack due to the tiny brain.
“Once (too often)”
“a thing that happened once, too often, to me.” The poet reveals a humorous aside with “too often” and shows that the experience shocked him. Even once was too much. He has recreated the experience in a poem reminding us that it was an important moment on which he has reflected.
“She was bucket’s and water flouncing into them”
“clucking contentedly”
tourists have their simple needs satisfied with a superficial tour. They do not connect their art appreciation with the message of Christian charity contained in the paintings. “Clucked” – suggests hens, chickens, birds with tiny brains.
“glass fang is fixed”
“books that will not be read
and fruitless fruits”
“he scattered
the grain of the Word” – allusion to a parable ( story) told in bible. Priest is sprinkling some religious
truths, but there is a hint that his “word” is unlikely to grow and thrive.
(b) How does the description of the beggar introduce the main concerns or ideas
of the poem? 2
Main ideas are the contrast between rich and poor, the hypocrisy of religion,
Description of the dwarf is shocking, someone in need of Christian charity. He is slumped on
the threshold of a beautiful church, yet he has nothing. St Francis “brother of the poor” gave up all his possessions. The Church is dedicated to St Francis, yet the dwarf is left outside. He is described as an oddity, unable to get inside or benefit from the spiritual guidance or the charity that should be offered to him. This shows the hypocrisy of religion clearly. The beggar is someone who St Francis would have helped.
The church is beautifully decorated, and the priest explains how the beautiful artwork tells stories that reveal the bible to poor people who cannot read. This includes “the suffering of His son” There is no hint of irony that a real person is suffering on the church steps. The description of the dwarf focuses on the physical imperfections - he is ugly. This contrasts greatly with the beauty of the church. It could be argued that the priest ignoring the beggar demonstrates ugliness of the human spirit and a lack of charity that conflicts directly with the charity of the patron saint of his church – St Francis.
The tourists reveal a superficial interest in the artwork failing to truly understand the significance of the work. – help those who are suffering/in pain/less fortunate. They rush past a real person in need after listening to a priest describe how these pictures helped illiterate people understand their religion. Buckets of irony. The poet is criticising the visitors who “appreciate” churches but do not take the opportunity to act charitably and give the dwarf some money to ease his discomfort. The dwarf is described as “a ruined temple” to emphasise this point.
Strength in Aunt Julia
“I can see her strong foot ,
Stained with peat,” – use of sibilants to suggest her bare feet squelching in the mud. Staining on her feet contrasts with the idea of a lost tradition. People rarely walk bare foot in peat. Tough existence – survival.
“men’s boots” – tougher, better made, not delicate. Purposeful and not for fashion. Demonstrates strength of character, determination to survive. No time for femininity or adornment. Strong work ethic.
